Meet Ramalingam, the Tamil Nadu worker who won a case in Singapore for negligence in overcrowded lorry

livemint.com:

According to a report by CNN, in 2021, Murugan fell off the back of an overcrowded lorry, leading to a fracture on his leg. Murugan’s accident occurred on January 3, 2021.

Because of the incident, he could not work. Murugan, the father of three children, filed a case against the company for failing to institute or enforce a safe system of transport for himself and other workers and did not carry out risk assessments to identify potential hazards.

Murugan launched a lawsuit against Rigel Marine Services, seeking 100,000 Singapore dollars ($73,500) in damages in 2022. Muruggan's lawyer, Muhamad Ashraf Syed Ansarai said, "He injured himself coming down from a lorry which was overcrowded – a simple thing that turned out to be risky...It is not uncommon for companies, especially those involved in heavy construction, to take risk assessments for granted".

However, representatives for Rigel Marine Services denied the claims and said Murugan’s accident was “caused by his own carelessness in failing to watch his footing before alighting from the lorry." However, on 17 August, the district judge ruled in favour of Murugan, saying that there had clearly been “a breach of duty by the company." Singapore has immensely benefitted from cheap foreign labourers for decades. Millions of workers from India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and China go to Singapore every year for work opportunities in construction and maritime industries, toiling outdoors for long hours sometimes in extreme weather, and without a minimum wage.

These workers live in their dormitories and are transported on the back of lorries – often overcrowded and without passenger seats or seat belts. This practice has resulted in numerous road accidents and fatalities for workers